The 2010 vintage

A small but good quality crop!

After a cold and never-ending winter spring finally arrived in April.  However with daily temperatures above the seasonal average, vines soon resumed their normal activity.

The vine buds opened over just a few days (towards the 20^th April).  Overcast skies and chilly weather in May and June seriously disorganised vine flowering which took a long time to complete.  These particularly difficult weather conditions caused much “coulure” (the flower doesn’t turn into a grape) and a great deal of “millerandage” (the grape remains tiny)
The first 2 weeks of July were hot, dry and sunny.  The grapes started to ripen normally mid-August but ripening trailed on several weeks because of the extremely unstable weather (wet and cold).

The grapes took their time to finish ripening.  Fortunately the sun came out again right at the beginning of September and shone solidly for 3 weeks.
A small crop with small grapes and airy bunches made it possible to maintain a good sanitary condition and to achieve good maturity (for the Chardonnay maturity was even excellent).  But even so deciding the actual harvest date of each vineyard required a great deal of thought and calm!

Thanks to meticulous and precise work in the vineyards throughout the year, it was totally possible to pick healthy, ripe grapes at the right moment.

Nadine Gublin